86ers Crush Lynx
|
86ers Crush
Lynx
Toronto still looking to clinch spot.
by David Bailey,
Staff Writer
|
Needing a win to
solidify their hold on a guaranteed play-off spot in the A-League's
North-East division, the Toronto Lynx fell to the Vancouver 86'ers by a
score of 4-1 in front of 2,750 fans on a cool night at Varsity
Stadium.
Many ticket holders were still getting to their seats when
the 86'ers opened the scoring in the 5th minute. Former Lynx captain
Kevin Holness made a nice run down the left wing before feeding a short
pass to Tiarnan King. The Vancouver striker beat Lynx defender Milan
Kojic with a nifty move and
then fired a 15 yard shot past Theo Zagar
in the Toronto nets.
The remaining 40 minutes of the first half
were relatively uneventful with both sides squandering the occasional
opportunity.
The Lynx made a key personnel change to start the
second half with team goal scoring leader Francisco Dos Santos entering
the game in place of Aaron Benjamin. The Brazilian striker wasted
little time making an impact on the
match when in the 53rd minute, he
jumped on a loose ball and fired a hard accurate cross to Juan Arango at
the far post. The Colombian made no mistake heading the ball by a
well beaten Paul Shepherd in the Vancouver goal.
The 86'ers struck
back quickly only four minutes later capitalizing on an error by
Zagar. A well struck Vancouver corner fooled the Lynx keeper who got
only his fingertips to the cross. In the ensuing scramble in the
Lynx crease, Carmen D'onofrio fired the loose ball into the back of the
net.
Three minutes later Vancouver struck again, and once
again they capitalized on a mistake by Zagar. This time it was
Alfredo Valente who would take advantage. In a very innocent looking
play, the 86'ers midfielder fired the
ball towards the short side and
the Lynx keeper, thinking that the ball was going wide, didn't move a
muscle and the ball ended up in the net behind a dumbfounded
Zagar.
The Lynx would not give up and came close to scoring in the
63rd minute when Lloyd Barker rifled the ball over the goal and in the
65th minute when Dos Santos curled a beautiful shot just wide of the far
post.
The final nail in the Lynx coffin came in the 86th
minute on a controversial call by referee Jose Farias. On the play,
Tilley broke in alone and fired a shot directly at Zagar that the keeper
was able to stop. As he lay on the turf, Tilley tripped over the
prone keeper and Farias pointed immediately at
the penalty spot.
The former Lynx striker made no mistake to make the final score, Vancouver
4 - Toronto 1.
Game Notes: The match was telecast live on
CTVSportsnet with Gerry Dobson, Dick Howard and Alf DeBlasis supplying
commentary ..... Despite the loss and Montreal's victory over Rochester,
the Lynx maintain a 2 point lead over the
Impact with the Toronto club
also having three games in hand ..... The top three clubs in each division
are guaranteed play-off spots with remaining two spots in each conference
being awarded to wild cards ..... the goal by D'Onofrio, his first of the
season, came in only his third appearance with
the club ..... Lynx
coach Peter Pinnizotto decided not to start regulars Lyndon Hooper and
Francisco Dos Santos although both players were reportedly healthy .....
Lynx midfielder Brian Ashton sat out the match on a suspension
due to
accumulated yellow cards - his presence was missed ..... the media chose
former Lynx midfielder Kevin Holness as Man of the Match ..... the goal by
Darren Tilley was his eighth in eight matches for Vancouver since being
released by the Montreal Impact ..... the Lynx's next home game
is
Friday, August 25th at Varsity Stadium. Kick-off is 7:30pm on
"Swing 50+ Night". |